Outdoor Play and Games: Vehicles--Pogo-Sticks


Figure 1.--These Englaish children in the late 1940s or early 50s are enjoying their matching pogo-sticks.

I'm unsure just where to archive the pogo-stick. For want of a better palce I will archive it here. It was a vehicle of sorts. Pogo Sticks first appeared in America and were popular there in the 1920s. I vaguely rememember pogo-sticks from the 1940s. I never had one, but I remember seeing one as a little boy in America. A British reader tell us that they were popular in Briatin for a short time. I'm not sure if they appeared elsewhere. It appears to have been popular with both boys and girls. The pogo-stick, however, wasn't all that easy to use. It took considerable effort to bounce up and down and skill to keep balanced. If you just try to stand still on a pogo-stick, needless to say you will fall off. You have to get bouncing along.

History

No one realy knows who invented the pogo stick, or who or what pogo was. One company handling pogo-sticks provides one rather implausable account of its invention. An American named George Hansburg traveling in Burma as it was called then, met a poor farmer who had a daughter named Pogo. She was apparenttly a devout little girl who wanted to pray at the temple every day, but was unable because she had no shoes to walk through the mud and rocks. The farmer reportedly built her a jumping stick and thus Pogo was able to bounce over the mud rocks to the temple. We say improabable because using the pogo-stick on muddy ground is impossible. In addition it would have probably been cheaper to buy her a pair od sandals. Not to mention that children in Burma commonly webt barefoot. But it is a nice story none-the-less. Whatever his inspiration, Hansburg patented his “Pogo Stick” in 1919. The Gimble Brothers Department Store in New York ordered a shipment from a foreign manufacturer, but the sticks rotted duing shipment. Gimbles then asked asked Hansburg to produce the Pogo Stick himself, which he did. His factory was SBI Enterprises and he called his sticks, “Master Pogos”.

Chronology

The Pogo Stick was agreat hit in the 1920s. And they were not just used by children. Hansburg reportedly taught the Ziegfeld Follies girls how to use them. The New York Hippodrome chorus girls apparently performed performed entire shows on them. There wre Pogo marriages with wedding vows being excahnged on them. There ware a raft of Pogo jumping contests. After the 1920s, the Pogo Stick declined in popularity. It has, however, never really disappeared and can still be purchased to this day. Modern PogonSticks can be purchased in a range of bright colors.

Countries

The Pogo Stick as explained above was developed in America and popular there in the 1920s. I vaguely rememember pogo-sticks from the 1940s. I never had one, but I remember seeing one as a little boy in America. An Australian reader writes, "I got a nice pogostick for Christmas in my summer school holidays and it took me weeks and weeks to master the blessed thing, but I loved my pogo stick heaps and eventually passed it on to my youngest brother when he was 7 and I was 15 and he also loved it heaps too." I'm not sure if they appeared elsewhere. A British reader tell us that they were popular in Briatin for a short time. A Dutch reader writes, "I've never seen a pogo stick in actual use and I have but the vaguest recollection of someone using it in a childrens' magazine. Probably one of these weekly instalments of Donald Duck's stories, or Goofy's, or some similar Disney-inspired character, which leads me to believe they were an essentially American gadget." Guido

Gender

The Pogo Stick appears to have been popular with both boys and girls.

Use

The pogo-stick, however, wasn't all that easy to use. It took considerable effort to bounce up and down and skill to keep balanced. If you just try to stand still on a pogo-stick, needless to say you will fall off. You have to get bouncing along.

Sources

American Pogo Stick Company, "Pogo Stick History".






HBC




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Created: October 22, 003
Last updated: October 27, 2003